


Echoes of the Present

by kdm13



Series: Echoes [2]
Category: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - All Media Types, Kingdom Hearts (Video Games)
Genre: Dissociative Identity Disorder, Gen, I keep making new series I may have a problem, I'm going to get Demyx and Vanitas to be friends if it kills me, I'm trying to not change much just show behind the scenes, Multiplicity/Plurality, Oops I wrote more, This takes place during KHIII unfortunately, Though I'll probably end up giving these nerds a happy ending anyway, they deserve better
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-07
Updated: 2021-02-03
Packaged: 2021-03-08 18:21:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,178
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27431179
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kdm13/pseuds/kdm13
Summary: Demyx remembers enough to get by. Enough to not question it often. But there are some things he can't remember but knows he should. And seeing familiar faces can sometimes help with that. Or, at least, make the gaps more obvious.
Relationships: Demyx & Vanitas (Kingdom Hearts)
Series: Echoes [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2004097
Kudos: 16





	1. A Meeting. Again

**Author's Note:**

> There's no death in the story that I'm aware of yet, but Demyx does mention the fact that he's died before. Which is canon. And becoming a Nobody is akin to death. So he's died thrice, if you don't count his Heartless at all, since we never see it pointed out. 
> 
> Also death is definitely trauma, which can prompt further splits and such.

It had been a while. Lifetimes, essentially. Since Demyx had seen this face. They had both grown older. Demyx wasn't sure how much the other remembered. His own memory about some of that stuff was fuzzy sometimes. Well, a lot of the time. 

But he remembered that face. Didn't he?

Or. Well. At least the weird little dancing creatures remembered him, which sparked the memory. They were too unique to not get caught in the net full of things he tried to drag up from the depths of his past. A vague memory of playing music for them. A brief conversation. But about what, he couldn't say. 

And honestly, it was more the clothes than the face that he remembered. Sora had the same features. Just. These were different, in a way that felt like it should be familiar to him. 

Whispers that weren't there. Couldn't be there. _‘Don't you remember? Why don't you ever listen? C’mon, just remember! We can help!’_

No. The sounds were easily drowned out with music. Nevermind the fact that he couldn't remember more than flashes of the last time he saw Sora. Before he died. Again. He had died fighting. But he hated fighting. Had for as long as he could remember.

Dying isn't fun. It's painful and-

“Music Man?” There was a hand in front of Demyx’s face. 

“Huh?” Demyx blinked up at whoever it was. Had he ever gotten a proper name?

“Dammit, you can't just sit there and stare at the wall. You'll make the rest of us look bad. At least pretend to be productive!”

“I _am_ being productive! I’m practicing music! And Music Man? Really? Couldn’t think of anything better? Though I guess I’ve been called worse. Much worse.” Demyx frowned at the thought. At least he wasn’t being called lazy again.

“I’m not the one who thought of it, dumbass. It’s what you told me to call you. You should be grateful I remember it.”

“Did I?” Demyx reached up and rubbed the back of his neck. He didn’t remember _that_ at all. “Well, you can call me Demyx now. It’s better than being referred to by a number again.” Demyx stuck out his tongue briefly. “Bleh. No thanks. Not. Interested.”

The familiar face squinted at him, then scoffed and said “Vanitas.”

“Vanitas, huh? Nice name. Did I get that last time we talked?”

“No.”

And Vanitas turned to walk away. Conversation over.

Only. One of the small things that seemed to trail Vanitas stuck around. It prodded him gently on the leg.

And a rush of emotion that Demyx reflexively blocked rushed into his head. Nope! Not dealing with more of that! He was having a hard enough time focusing already. Besides, he was used to blocking random thoughts and emotions from actually reaching his own thoughts. What were a few more?

The thing cocked its head to the side. Was it studying him? Weird. He wasn’t sure what to make of that.

Memories and emotions he couldn’t quite have yet tried to flood his senses, but he just went back to playing his sitar. With, maybe the occasional antenna scritch while whatever it was was still around. It was like a cat. A weird, pointy cat. Demyx would have wondered why it stuck around him, but clearly it enjoyed the music. It swayed back and forth and occasionally did a little dance around before coming back for more scritches.

After some time but not nearly enough, Vanitas came back with a scowl. “Stop that! The Master is coming!” And Vanitas picked it up by the scruff of its neck and took it away.

* * *

Demyx didn’t get a chance to talk to Vanitas again for a while after that. There was something going on there, but it was just _so hard_ to remember certain things. Not anywhere near as bad as Roxas’s memory loss, so he had never seen a need to bring it up to anyone before, but there were still things he was missing. Even from after he became a Nobody for the first time. But he tried not to think about it hard. It never really came up before. He knew how to play the right way to get water to do what he wanted and get a nice sound, and he knew the basics of his life before. He knew what things were and didn’t have to be taught every little thing like Axel had had to teach Roxas back during the first Organization XIII, but a lot of little details about his life had been lost. They just. Never had come up before. And what was a little missing memory between Nobodies, right? They were all missing hearts anyway. What was one more thing?

Still. It was starting to seem important now. He wanted to figure out more about how he knew Vanitas. But thinking too much about it gave him a headache, and he’d rather not. But the lack of information was starting to bug him. Ugh! No matter what he did, it was a headache!

Maybe if he talked to Vanitas more, it would help? But Vanitas didn’t normally talk to others from what Demyx had seen. Their chat the other day had been a fluke. A whale of a tale. Something that shouldn’t have happened. Like people losing their hearts and slowly growing them back.

Demyx put a hand to his chest to try and feel the beat. Hearts hurt, but not having one was worse. He couldn’t play right without it. Couldn’t feel right. He wasn’t whole.

In more ways than one.

Nope! Not thinking about that. Not. Allowed. 

Why couldn’t he remember? There was Vanitas. And the cute pointy dancing things that, thinking about it now, certain parts of the Dancers he used to control reminded him of them. But then, most Lessers were sharp around the edges, so that didn’t mean much.

But still. The memory was fuzzy, but he could almost feel the rest of it just beyond his grasp. He just. Needed to reach for it.

The latest attempt had him whimper in pain. It hurt. It was like he wasn’t supposed to remember for some reason. Like it had been blocked off from him and he wasn’t allowed to know. But they were _his_ memories! He should be able to access them! Why couldn’t he just remember already?! Even just the music he had been playing during that first meeting was beyond him. There was the memory of playing music, but the notes? The melody? None of it stuck to his brain. He couldn’t remember the sounds or the positioning of his fingers. Just the fact that he was playing during it. But then, when wasn’t he? He was always playing if he had a free moment. It helped him focus. Or, well. Maybe not focus. He didn’t always notice important things around him when he played, but it helped him deal with things. It was grounding but not, at the same time.

Familiar.

It wasn’t for a bit that he realized that he wasn’t alone in his room anymore. Something had scuttled under the door. Something dark. And pointy. And strangely friendly looking.

There was the rush of almost words but he couldn’t. He can’t. No! 

Whatever it was, he had never gotten a name, looked at him with what looked almost like concern. And through his headache, he watched as it carefully moved toward him, and climbed up onto Demyx’s lap.

And started _purring._

As Demyx absently started petting it, he realized his cheeks were growing damp. Huh. Welp. Nothing he could do about that. Well, there was, but he didn’t care to. He was alone, with whatever this was and his thoughts. His thoughts that he sometimes felt weren’t all his but of course they were. Who else would they belong to? He had nothing to prove.

He was already seen as the weak link in the group. Only there to fill out the numbers. Just to make it a nice thirteen again. So what was he useful for? Just a dumb musician who couldn’t even fight properly.

But the pointy friend was doing its best to snuggle in close. And the purring kept getting louder. And it felt so nice to cry. It meant his heart was growing again. Any little scrap of proof was something he was going to hold onto tight.

He eventually leaned back and just let the tears flow quietly.

Some time later, his door slammed open. Demyx hastily disappeared the water on his cheeks and sat up. “What is it? Don’t you know it’s rude to burst into someone’s room without knocking?”

“Shut up. It’s rude to steal, too.” Vanitas stomped towards Demyx, a scowl on his face. Though, had Demyx ever seen Vanitas _not_ scowling? Huh. He’d have to think on that.

“I didn’t steal anything! I was just sitting here minding my own business when I got a visitor.”

Vanitas scoffed in annoyance. “Sure. Whatever. Just give it back before you spoil it.”

“Aww, but it’s so cute! What if I want to spoil it? Do they like chocolate? I think I remember the way to a world with great chocolate. There’s even a river of the stuff!”

Vanitas growled a bit. But then his stomach did the same. He held out a hand and something formed from nothing to close the door. “Fine, but I’m not paying.”

Demyx grinned and stood, holding his new pointy friend close. “Fine by me! Who said anything about paying, anyway?”

One portal later, and they were surrounded by candy of all sorts. More than could fit in anyone’s stomach in a single week. Demyx noticed Vanitas’s face light up, but it was quickly hidden away again. This time, by the helmet Demyx had occasionally seen Vanitas wear. It was a bit like the Organization with their hoods, but not. This had just appeared out of nowhere, like how they summoned their weapons.

“Try not to get spotted, okay? This place has pretty good security. Lots of tiny workers.”

“Tch.” Vanitas summoned a bunch of flying things that looked a bit like funky cookie jars and they flew around to collect as much candy as they could.

Demyx just leaned over to pick some of the grass to eat. He didn’t need much. Sometimes, it was just nice to appreciate the different ways a world could look. Outside of this place, it looked so much different. But here, it was like candy magic, but without being baked into a pie.

Well, as far as he had seen, anyway. He hadn’t gotten caught yet, and didn’t plan to find out what would happen if he did.

At least everything here tasted amazing. It was worth the risk. And maybe, just maybe, he could use this to get close enough to Vanitas to learn more about his own past.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope y'all liked it! Been reasonably active in some smaller plural communities, but if you're plural and think something came across wrong, feel free to speak up. I don't have much experience with losing time and the like.


	2. A Sweet? Surprise

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Catch me updating at work because this was mostly finished last night right before bed and there wasn't time to look it over until now.

Something was definitely different about the Music Man. He didn’t look much different than how Vanitas remembered him looking, if you didn’t count the yellow eyes. Everyone here had them. A sign that the old man had gotten his hooks in everyone in the group. Idiots. The lot of them.

~~ Not that he was in any place to talk. ~~

Vanitas hadn’t been sure of it at first, but after listening to what the Floods said, it was like this was a completely different person. Looked the same. Sounded the same. Even said just enough stuff to seem like he was the same person he remembered. And overall acted the same? Vanitas had never seen anyone else play an instrument like that, even if the way he played it seemed different. Not that Vanitas paid attention to that shit. Still. The Music Man was as different as he was the same.

And was he serious about not remembering? Was Vanitas that unforgettable? Tch. Screw him anyway. Vanitas only needed himself. Himself and his damn body back.

What was with the guy?

First, he kidnaps his Floods and makes them dance for him. Then he doesn’t remember him. Then he kidnaps his Floods again!

At least there was chocolate this time. Chocolate and every candy he ever could have imagined and then some. It was beyond his wildest dreams.

What the hell was going on? The Floods couldn’t even get through to him the same, apparently. When they tried, there was a wall there. Not that they didn’t get in contact at all, but it was? Different? It’s not like he had the ability to project into people’s minds like his Unversed could for some reason. So it wasn’t like he could test it himself. Stupid. He just wanted to know what was going on and why the Music Man’s mind was so foggy but so strong that the Floods couldn’t get a message through.

The Floods always managed to get a message through. People never bothered to block them when they actually wanted in. They were too damn cute, apparently. Even though they had sharp teeth and a wicked slash. Idiots. Everyone around him was so dense.

Still, he couldn’t help but enjoy himself here at least a little. Steal some fruit, grass, river, even the dirt tasted delicious. He kept letting the shield around his mouth fade away so he could try bits to make sure it was worth taking back. It all was. Why should any one person get to hoard all this candy wealth? It was only right and fair that he get some.

“My oh my, what do we have here? There’s intruders in my factory?”

“Shit.” Vanitas turned and stared at the strange man that had joined them, while telling his Unversed to start dispersing. Luckily, they could go back without him, so the stolen sweets were safe. The Music Man was. Huh. Getting ready to play more music. What the actual hell would that accomplish?

“Well now, that won’t do. You’re really not supposed to touch the river. The whole point of it is that it’s never been touched by human hands. Do be careful.” Was it just Vanitas, or did this man not sound even the slightest bit alarmed? He was as weird as the Music Man. No wonder the blond knew how to get here. They were probably related or something.

“I’m just taking what I deserve!” Vanitas dropped into a battle stance, got his Keyblade ready-

And slid back into the chocolate river. At least his helmet protected him from immediately breathing in chocolate. 

Now it was the Music Man's turn to swear. Loudly. “Aw man! I can’t breathe in chocolate!” he wailed, while he played some notes on his instrument. “And I don’t want to try cleaning that out of my clothes!”

Strange men appeared. Two different kinds. One was short and strangely dressed in a weird uniform, and the other was transparent, with the details barely visible. The latter was headed his way.

The newcomer just watched, without a care in the world. It was like he didn’t care whether or not Vanitas drowned. What was new?

But, apparently, something did. And it wasn’t some new breed of Unversed born of his desire to not drown in chocolate of all things. It was the strange watery men. They really _were_ water. He could tell, once they bent down to pull him out of the river. When he tried to push one away from him, his hand just went right through. Sure, there was some resistance, but not enough for him to actually _push_ the thing. Ugh. He had no choice but to let himself be pulled from the river, soaked in watery chocolate. Not that he didn’t still put up a fight. He wasn’t about to let someone help him if he could help it.

He was better than that. He didn’t need help.

_‘Is good that Mind get help yes yes’_

Damn it. He scowled and stomped up the riverbank as soon as he had his feet under him. Then grabbed The Music Man’s cloak and growled “We’re leaving” up at him.

“So soon? But you really must stay a while and chat. In all my travels, I’ve never seen anyone do something quite like that before. Do you have any skill with chocolate?”

The Music Man blinked a couple times, then shook his head wildly and pointed to himself. “Who, me?! I’m just a simple musician.”

Vanitas scoffed in response. “Whatever. We’re leaving anyway.”

There was a damn twinkle in his eyes when the man replied “There's never been anything _just_ about my little musicians. Come along!” He turned away and started towards a door. “Unless you'd like to help clean up. No one wants watered down chocolate. We'll have to section it off and separate it out. Again.” He turned back around suddenly and with an abrupt stop. The Music Man almost ran into him, but Vanitas was far enough behind to not have any issues. “How rude of me! I forgot introductions. I'm Willy Wonka, and this is my chocolate factory. For now, at any rate. To whom am I speaking?”

“Uh. Demyx. Nice to meet you? I always-”

He was interrupted by Willy Wonka grabbing his hand and shaking it so hard Vanitas thought it might fall off. “It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Demyx. A delight. And who's your friend?”

“We're not friends.” Vanitas scoffed. ”We're just forced to work together. He brought me here to spoil the Unversed.” And him. Though he would never admit that it was working. Dammit! He should have just left the Unversed to grab the candy without him, but he was too greedy. Distracted by the things around him. Weak. 

“Oh? Are those yours then? Delightful creatures! Fascinating! I'd say it's been about a decade since I last saw one.” And that was a Look if Vanitas had ever seen one. What was it with old men and knowing more than they let on? It was infuriating! “I always wondered what happened to them. None of my affair, of course. Simply idle curiosity. I'd much rather make sure my factory is well tended for.”

How did he know so much when Vanitas had never known of this place?

“But then, you didn't actually tell me your name, young man.”

“Why the hell should I tell you?”

“Hmm? What was that? I keep meaning to get my ears checked, but I just never seem to find the time for more than a simple Cure. Never works, of course. Little things like that never do much against old age.”

“Dammit old man!” Vanitas growled. 

“Vanitas, just let him know your name. It's not worth the effort.”

“Damn it, Demyx! He doesn't need to know!”

Demyx just shrugged back a reply as Willy Wonka came up to shake his hand. Not quite as enthusiastically as he did with Demyx, (damn, Vanitas was using his name now) but still enough to make his arm feel jerked around. “Wonderful to meet you, Vanitas. I hope you enjoy your stay."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ended up reading the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory book to try and get Willy Wonka decent because??? Now he's a semi important character?????? And Knows Things????????? No clue how that happened


End file.
